The gates to the race track had been open when the 31-year-old man seized the opportunity to do a few laps in his father's Mitsubishi 380 car.

He was driving the wrong way around the track when he failed to take the hairpin corner at the southern end of the home straight, instead going straight ahead and hitting the tyre wall.

Uninjured, he jumped out of the car and went running back down the home straight, only to be greeted by Mr Calvert driving towards him with his police dogs barking in the back.

"He stopped," Mr Calvert said.

"He said it was his dad's car and he was in the s...."

Mr Calvert said the car appeared to be a write-off and he would be ringing the man's father, "to tell him the bad news".

Teretonga Park Raceway caretaker Dave Holland said the gates had been open to the track yesterday morning because people were on-site doing community work.

"I was boiling the jug for the PD guys when I heard him roaring past. I came over to stop him when he came around the next time . . . but he didn't come around, did he." The tyre wall had stopped him instead.

"He wasn't supposed to be on the track. There's a sign over there saying to report to the office," Mr Holland said.

The man was charged with being unlawfully on the race track and dangerous driving.

He was driven away from the crash scene in the back of a police car.

His father, who police declined to name, was not willing to comment, police said.